I hope you had a happy Christmas and 2013 is starting well for you and your family. I spent the festive period in Burundi, a small country in East Africa. It lies between Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda, with its capital city, Bujumbura sitting on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world. Its a fascinating place, so utterly different from the UK. Its terribly poor and parts of the infrastructure are still being rebuilt following the devastating civil war and genocide, which also affected Rwanda. There has been peace since 2006, and the ...

[IMG: Social Media Background with Speech Bubbles] New for 2013: we're now more multi-platform that ever before. This blog has had a Facebook page for more than a year. A small, perfectly formed and slowly increasing group of readers follow the blog, and occasionally comment, over there. For a while I've also been posting to my Google+ profile. But for 2013 I've decided to set up a separate G+ page for the blog. So if your preference is for the big G then you can now follow my posts there instead. It's the coming thing, so I'm led to believe. ...

I'm not normally a fan of arbitrary "stock-taking" exercises, especially when they mark random things like "the first 100 days." I grudgingly accept, though, that there is a bit more logic to the "mid-term review", particularly in the context of a coalition where the yardstick is the negotiated coalition agreement, rather than a single party's manifesto. I had hoped to be able to blog in some detail about the review itself, but I've not had the chance to have more than the most cursory of glances at it so, for now, I'll review to Stephen Tall's piece on Lib Dem ...

Alongside today's launch by Nick Clegg and David Cameron of the government's Mid-Term Review (Slimmed Down Edition) was the launch of six new policies from the government. Or rather the outlines of six new policies, as the details will each get their own day in the media sun in the next few weeks. The surprising bonus for the Liberal Democrats in all this? That the six policies have rather a strong Liberal Democrat feel: We will support working families with their childcare costs. We will build more houses and make the dream of home ownership a reality for more people. ...

I found this on the BritishRailway.tv site, which describes it as: A short film showing changes for British Railways under the Modernisation Plan and the career opportunities that might be available, until Dr Beeching got his teeth into the system a couple of years later.

Most people like politicians who behave like grown ups, governments where they spend time getting things done rather than fight with each other. To be fair, I like that too. And for all our worries about some of the things this Government does, Liberal Democrat heads know that it's much more functional than the last Labour lot, who spent more time at each other's throats, virtually from the off in 1997 than actually doing anything useful. My head is mostly proud of Nick Clegg (sort yourself out on secret courts and welfare, Nick, and I'll be able to drop the ...

I thought some of my London based readers might be interested in this event I'll be going to next Thursday evening organised by the redoubtable Soho Skeptics. It's a debate about the Leveson Report and its consequences featuring Nick Cohen, Suzanne Moore, Natalie Fenton and Evan Harris. I expect a high quality of debate and hopefully I'll get a chance to have my own rant from the floor. I usually do at these things! See you(s) there.

Just before Christmas Jo Shaw wrote an update on the Lib Dems against Secret Courts campaign on Lib Dem Voice. For me, the most remarkable thing was that Nick Clegg had refused to meet those running the campaign. I really don't see what such an attitude could gain, save to estrange the leadership from the party at a time when we all need to be working together. This is an issue on which the party is fairly united. It's not an NHS Bill which gets the social liberals up in arms while the others don't care. On this one, the ...

[IMG: coalition mid term review 2013] I've had chance only to scan-read today's Coalition Mid-Term Review (with its rather grudging, adjective-free title, Together in the national interest), but here are some initial impressions... The economy takes centre-stage... This may seem a statement of the obvious. And yet it's worth comparing with the May 2010 document, Our programme for government (ahh, that Rose Garden-inspired 'our') in which subjects were sorted alphabetically so that you had to wait until chapter 9 to read about 'deficit reduction'. Back in those days the Coalition blithely assumed the economy was on the mend: many of ...

Concessionary Fares update - questions left unanswered As a result of the hard campaigning work from the Lib Dem Group over the last two years, the Cabinet was forced to look again at the original decision to only provide the statutory minimum free travel with a bus pass. This meant that on weekdays pass holders were limited to travel between 0930 and 2300, the Lib Dems wanted to extend this to 24 hr free travel for disabled users and from 9am for elderly users. However a number of questions from the Lib Dem Group were left unanswered as the decision ...

The Daily Telegraph reports the opening of Britain's 300th community shop: When the last shop in their village closed down, the residents of Cobham were determined to give their community a focal point. But resigned to the fact that a shop was not economically viable, they decided the only way to build a new one was to volunteer their expertise and labour - including baking bread. Together they set about raising £85,000 before taking on the lease of the former convenience store, refurbishing and stocking it - and crucially recruiting 62 volunteers to run it. The team behind the venture ...

HOW CAN LIBERAL YOUTH BE TRUE TO ITS MEMBERS & FEDERAL STRUCTURE? An Open Letter from the Presidents/Chairs of Liberal Youth Scotland, Ieuenctid Rhyddfrydol Cymru, Northern Ireland Liberal Youth and England Liberal Youth. Dear Candidate, It is important Liberal Youth recognises the difference devolution has made in politics and as a result within our organisation. In ...

[IMG: Big ideas] I'm not quite sure what the point of today's Coalition Mid-Term Review was. Apart from reasserting that the Coalition intends to go the distance - and beyond? – the main thing that was clear was that they'd really rather like the media to change the metaphor and stop talking about a loveless marriage. The document itself is largely a list of what the Government has done. It is not an evaluation of that programme. It does not, for example, compare what it has done with what it was planning to do. Nor does it reflect upon why ...

Imagine a world without clichés. Politicians would be forced to say what they really mean, in plain English. Politicians who talk in clichés probably think in clichés. Hand-me-down phrases and worn-out metaphors are a symptom of a deeper malaise, the hollowing-out of politics, where substance (distinctive values and a clear vision) has been replaced by the superficial (managerialism and spin). The resulting insincere language is a major reason why politicians have lost public respect. Waging war on clichés is good for a laugh but there's a more important purpose. Taking apart empty language is a form of reverse engineering, which ...

This is an interesting one. The Doctor has made many friends from across the galaxies over half a century flitting into their lives, sorting them out and disappearing again. One place he visited twice, fifty years apart, is Peladon, a society which needed to ditch some of its outdated traditions and get with the times - with powerful vested interests holding back any change. Sound familiar? Jon Pertwee's Doctor visited twice. On his first trip, he helped a new King uncover the dastardly deeds of his advisers. On his second, it was Sarah Jane Smith who injected some feminism into ...

So they've released the name of the first author of the Whoniversary Ebooks and it's Eoin Colfer. I have no problem with this, I like his work. I am now going to engage in rampant speculation about who else might be on the list. Apparently they are all children's authors. What the definition of children's author they are using is, I do not know. [IMG: [personal profile] ] magister says he'd like to see Salman Rushdie on the list, and Mr R has written children's books... The ones I am willing to suggest might be on the list are as ...

The beginning of 2013 not only marks the start of the second half of the Coalition, but also the start of the newly elected Federal Committees. Here is some advice for the three crucial ones, Federal Policy Committee (FPC), Federal Conference Committee (FCC) and Federal Executive (FE). For FPC: Radical policy is required for 2015 Common sense says the 2015 manifesto should play it safe, yet common sense is often wrong. A study of policy positions in party manifestos since 1971 in Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK shows: Parties in Government who adopt relatively extreme ideological positions ...

(a list of the questions and links to all the answers can be found on this entry) Season 22. Oh, you want more than that? OK, well, season 22 includes Attack of the Cybermen (Colin's mighty organ and Colin's shiny helmet, plus The Fat Controller), Vengeance on Varos (Proper Scifi with some really prescient stuff about reality television), The Mark of the Rani (in which Peri the botanist actually gets to use her botanical knowledge, Colin is well-hung, and Colin gets to fanboy George Stephenson), The Two Doctors (bums galore, Jacks Pearce, and Two and Jamie), Timeslash (OK, admittedly Timeslash ...

LBC announced this morning: Starting on Thursday 10th January at 9.00am, Call Clegg will be the first time a senior member of Government has agreed to be challenged by listeners every week about the big decisions being made in Downing Street. Every Thursday morning for half-an-hour, the Deputy Prime Minister will go head-to-head with LBC 97.3 breakfast host Nick Ferrari and his listeners, who will be able to call, email, text or tweet Nick Clegg directly with their questions. Mr Clegg said: "I'm doing this because I don't think politicians get to hear enough from people directly. You can't do ...

[IMG: hot girl playing guitar] The past two years have seen an explosion in the ways that musicians can teach online. Why give lessons in your local music store when you can make more money teaching people online from the comfort of your own home? Here are some ideas to get you started: YouTube Guitar teachers like Justin Sandercoe and Marty Schwartz have developed huge YouTube followings by using the video platform to offer free lessons to learners around the world. While you can get your own channel up and running in no time there is a real art to ...

Now that is what I want for my next birthday as well. Can someone sort that out please? Away from my dreams the news today is that the Deputy Prime Minister has agreed to do a weekly phone-in radio show on LBC in an attempt to be more accessible to the public. I don't know what the general consensus is but personally I think this is a good move by Nick Clegg who has in the recent months slowly seemed to be getting himself together with regards to his public image. As a known 'Cleggite' as it were and as ...

In the coalition agreement - the first one, that is, - it clearly says "The deficit reduction programme takes precedence over any of the measures in this agreement' and indeed we have been told this, over and over again.... Yet in the reboot version published today, we are told... "Dealing with the deficit may have been our first task, but our most important task is to build a stronger, more balanced economy..." which to me says something quite different. It sounds like we need to boost the supply side of the economy, to invest, to build, to grow. It sounds ...

[IMG: clegg cameron rose garden] David Cameron and Nick Clegg have just presented their mid-term coalition review. You can read the full document here. As a taster, here are the ending words of the foreword: Today, at the half-way point in this Parliament, we are taking stock of the progress we have made in implementing the Coalition Agreement that we signed in May 2010. But we are also initiating a new set of reforms, building on those already under way, to secure our country's future and help people realise their ambitions. We will support working families with their childcare costs. ...

The next Cheadle Area Committee will meet at 6pm on Tuesday 15th January 2013 at Bolshaw Primary School, Cross Road, Heald Green. Here's the agenda, including the final decision on 20mph zone for the Broadway area and a planning application for the former Greyhound Pub on Councillor Lane, Cheadle Hulme. 15012013 1800 Cheadle Area Committee

Back in November I blogged about the proposal from Cornwall Council to refuse to allow ceremony rooms to be used for basic weddings and civil partnerships. The authority wanted to force less well off couples to use offices for these ceremonies and to restrict the use of ceremony rooms to much more expensive events. In the case of Launceston, this would have meant that civil weddings and partnership ceremonies would have been held in a windowless office at the back of the library. I'm delighted to hear that the Council has backed down on this proposal following strong condemnation from ...

An Open Letter from the Presidents/Chairs of Liberal Youth Scotland, Ieuenctid Rhyddfrydol Cymru, Northern Ireland Liberal Youth and England Liberal Youth. Dear Candidate, It is important Liberal Youth recognises the difference devolution has made in politics and as a result within our organisation. In the recent budget both Liberal Youth Scotland and IR Cymru were ...

[IMG: Some rights reserved by Lori Greig] On Christmas Eve some of the Liberal Democrat Voice team made public some interesting "confessions". At that stage it was a case of "no names, no pack drills". Readers had a chance to guess which team member made which confession. (There were a few jokers in there to make it even more interesting). Now we can reveal the identity of each penitent: Confession #1 I once laid down in the middle of the main street of a large home counties town to stop the traffic. Paul Walter Confession #2 I got married partly ...

Another slightly oddly timed announcement comes out of the coalition today, this time from the Liberal Democrat side. Leader Nick Clegg has announced that he will conduct a radio phone-in programme for half an hour every week. The broadcast will go out live on LBC radio, and the Deputy Prime Minister will be accompanied by presenter Nick ...

As I've mentioned before, I'm fast approaching the tenth anniversary of setting up this blog, and to mark that, I've been going through my old posts. It's interesting looking back and seeing what was important back then – and how different blogging was back when it was all just fields round here, and there were none of your Twitters and Facebooks for sharing links. Next week, I'm going to begin a series of posts looking back on my blog, but today I wanted to look back at an old post on British Spin I linked to in 2003. Specifically, this ...

[IMG: Duncan Hames - Some rights reserved by Duncan Hames] Duncan Hames has been picked out by the Independent as a political star of the future. John Rentoul feeds some "scientific criteria" into his machine to come up with a list of MPs to watch in the future. The criteria include performing well on TV, networking, administrative ability and ideological positioning. Duncan comes out of the machine as the one Lib Dem pickee: Duncan Hames, 35, who has been PPS to Nick Clegg since September. He is not going to be prime minister, but he could be deputy, after either ...

Some thirty years after the war in the Falklands ended there is still diplomatic tension over the small islands with Argentina demanding the islands and Great Britain argues that it should be up to the islands in a self-determining vote, one is due to be held in three months time. The argument goes back to the early Nineteenth century when the British used strong arm tactic to remove an Argentine Garrison from the islands in January 1833. It is true that the British Empire has used hard line tactics and even bullied in its' bid to dominate Trade routes and ...

Later this month, the Liberal Democrat Federal Executive, which I am now officially on, will choose a number of party positions. These include: The Chair and five members of the Federal Finance and Administration Committee - this is the Committee that does the budget and supervises the organisation of HQ and makes sure we comply with health and safety, PPERA, employment law, that kind of thing. Chair of the International Relations Comittee Representatives on ELDR and Liberal International Members of the Diversity Engagement Panel. Also up for grabs, I think, will be posts like the Chair of the Campaigns and ...

Today is meant to be the second phase of the coalition, with Nick Clegg and David Cameron presenting a united front for a reforming future. We are to be told of all the exciting things the coalition is going to do over the next couple of years. Cameron has just lost his leader in the ...

This is Grimsby has an in-depth article on veteran local councillor Andrew De Freitas: A year after fleeing riots in his homeland, a young political activist from British Guiana arrived in Grimsby. In the first of a new series profiling our ward councillors, Local Government Reporter Simon Faulkner speaks to the Liberal Democrat Andrew De Freitas. "I WAS always a bit of a rebel", smiles Andrew De Freitas, recalling his childhood in the Caribbean colony of British Guiana. "My father said 'this boy when he grows up is going to be a lawyer', because I was always prepared to argue ...

Blood test results this morning: Hb 10.3 WBC 4.35 Plt 512 No results for Neutrophils yet, but increased dose of Hydroxycarbamide may have had some effect on that figure. Consultant found no enlargement of the spleen. Next test in 8 weeks' time on March 4.

So, I'm not getting Child Benefit any more, as of today. I can't complain, because I can see the sense behind this change.It's better that those earning over £50,000 take a hit than more is taken from those who have nothing, to put it bluntly. If the price I pay means that someone on the minimum wage can get their tax bill halved from the amount Labour charged them, then I can live with it. I am well aware that there is an inherent unfairness in the way the new rules apply. Two people earning £49,995, giving a household income ...

Further to my article earlier today and the item in this morning's Courier about the situation in Hawkhill, Scottish & Southern Energy has now updated me as follows: "I can confirm that the excavation at Hawkhill is being re-instated this morning. The road closure was kept in place over the weekend due to the quarry being closed and we were unable to get hot tar. I can confirm that these works will be completed by today."

There is an old adage that if you are not being complained about then you are not doing your job properly. So how are we to interpret today's Telegraph article that records that the RSPCA, the biggest animal welfare charity in Britain, is also one of the country's most complained about charities? The paper says that the Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, has disclosed that it has received 12 complaints about the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals over the past two years, behind only the Jehovah's Witnesses and the HFSH Charitable Trust, ...

[IMG: Twitter logo] How long does a tweet attract attention for? A few of course get read, re-read, shared and re-shared a long time after they were sent. Barack Obama's tweet on being re-elected will probably feature in various forms for years to come. But you and I are no Barack Obama. (Though if you are, hello! Nice of you to stop by. Good luck with the deficit, health care, Middle East and the rest.) A good way of judging how long a more typical tweet really gets attention for is to look at how long it is before retweets ...

I've decided to start a little bit of blogging about my progress in getting ready for the Belfast Marathon on May 6th which I am running for Marie Curie in memory of my father, you can sponsor me via my JustGiving page. This is the first such entry. I've just come in from a wet run on a cold January morning. At 43 my legs are quite as quick on the recovery as they once were half a life time ago. The aches I feel stay with me long after I get out of the shower or bath these days. ...

The participants of talk radio were seething this morning, as people complained that they will lose child benefit if they are earning over £50,000. There was one particular man on Radio Berkshire shouting at his phone about it. I think we need to step back here. Child Benefit's predecessor, Family Allowance was introduced in 1946. Part of the reason for this was to encourage or, at least, facilitate the repopulation of the country following the killing of the war. The government was particularly keen on people producing boys. My own family duly did their patriotic duty splendidly by producing seven ...

As I write this I don't know what is in the joint statement from the Government about the remainder of the period to the General Election in 2015. So this is Mystic Richard's predictions and my own personal hopes. The ... Continue reading →

E-cigarettes: no smoke without ire | Lionel Shriver mainstream media finally wakes up to something I've been linking to articles about for months (tags: ) Have Tv panel shows had their day? probably not because they are relatively cheap and relatively popular. But it'd be nice if they were less of a posh white guy's willy waving contest. (tags: ) Sexism may have impacted how we view historical civilisations suspect Sandi Toksvig is happy to read this news about vikings (tags: ) Whoniversary countdown clock in circular gallifreysn (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments

After one of the wettest years on record, when most of the country seemed to be under inches of water, to say that gardening was somewhat trying in 2012 is an understatement. Fields of ruined crops, allotments in constant rain and waterlogged and cold gardens formed a miserable backdrop to a year when I started to question again what it was I was looking for from the garden and what role the garden plays in our life. (photo from June 2012) Up to now it had been my haven, a safe place for the kids to play, a place to ...

[IMG: clegg-cameron-love] - That, courtesy of the FT, is perhaps the most florid of a batch of headlines this morning concerning a "relaunch", or at least a "resomething" of the coalition. The FT article starts: David Cameron and Nick Clegg will today alarm some in their own parties with a whole-hearted renewal of their coalition vows, in a midterm relaunch that includes a new drive to grapple with "holy grail" of cutting childcare costs. The Guardian also uses the marital allegory with the headline: "Cameron and Clegg to renew their vows with "shared sense of purpose": David Cameron and Nick ...

There are no words to adequately describe the horrific rape and murder of Jyoti Singh Pandey. I remember, several years ago reading a short piece of speculative fiction which postulated that China would go to war over access to women. Generations of female infanticide would leave the country with a severe gender imbalance. Hoards of men would be unable to find a wife, would become violent, and would lead their country into bitter conflicts with other countries in order to capture their women. A simplistic approach, perhaps. There are many perceived consequences of an unchecked male population growth. But gender ...

Liberal Youth are having a fresh set of executive elections. I am not and never have knowingly been a member of Liberal Youth or LDYS, its precursor organisation when I joined the party. Since I've got more involved in the party, I've met a lot of LY members and worked with the organisation on several ...

The results of the 2011 census for England and Wales, reported recently, made depressing news for the church. There was a sharp drop in the number of people describing themselves as 'Christian'. The Church of England's latest pronouncement on gay bishops is unlikely to reverse that trend. The basic cause of the collapse in religious belief, religious observance and religious affiliation is not church policy on gay bishops. But the church's ability to tie itself in knots over such issues shows how far removed from society it has become, and provides a clue to why it is seen as out ...

Clever idea for a bit of variation on an old theme courtesy of Islington councillor Terry Stacy: The Town Hall's Lib Dem opposition leader Terry Stacy accused the Labour council of ignoring potholes in more well-to-do areas and instead concentrating its resources on "working-class neighbourhoods". The pothole in Sotheby Road has grown so big it can take a flotilla of rubber ducks, he claims. I think you can guess the photo that is coming... Hat-tip: Alan Muhammed

This week's poem follows on from last week's (The Road Not Taken) and talks of a road even less taken. The Way Through The Woods by Rudyard Kipling They shut the road through the woods Seventy years ago. Weather and rain have undone it again, And now you would never know There was once a road through the woods Before they planted the trees. It is underneath the coppice and heath And the thin anemones. Only the keeper sees That, where the ring-dove broods, And the badgers roll at ease, There was once a road through the woods. Yet, if ...

Politics and government never really stop and over Christmas you start to get ready for the next year. As part of that I wrote a piece for the Times setting out our position on the economy and asking some questions of the Labour Party. You can read it HERE (paywall) or Lib Dem Voice has a summary HERE. We also got a bit of attention after the party's central message for spokespeople was featured on the BBC. There's nothing unusual about political parties wanting to ensure they get their message across, and our key argument - that the Liberal Democrats ...

On Friday morning, without notification to residents, a squad from Scottish and Southern Energy appeared on Hawkhill near the Sinderins junction and set up a road lane closure, temporary pedestrian arrangements and temporary removal of a well-used bus stop, in order to attend to a power cut problem affecting some adjacent properties into Blackness Avenue. However, although the road, pedestrian and bus stop restrictions remain in place, no work has taken place over the weekend. Whilst residents and I appreciate the temporary road and pavement restrictions were necessary on Friday, it appears the work was abandoned on Friday afternoon and ...

(a list of the questions and links to all the answers can be found on this entry) It's got to be The Five Doctors. I have soft spots for Dimensions in Time and the Three Doctors and many others, but the five doctors is just lovely. It's got daleks and cybermen and the master and three and two and Rassilon and EVERYTHING. And of course the best thing is The Raston Warrior Robot. The Raston Warrior Robot should totally get an outing in the new series. [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments